A lottery player in Thailand is recovering in hospital after his quest for lucky numbers was thwarted by a horde of angry insects.

According to a recent report in the Buriram Times, a 54-year-old man is recovering in hospital after being stung by bees over 80 times on Tuesday. The man, identified only as Jai, was attacked by the angry swarm after an ill-advised inspection of a bees’ nest he believed held the key to his winning a lottery jackpot.

Jai’s friend, a man identified only as Samai, told the media outlet that, immediately prior to the attack, he and Jai had discussed an 80-centimeter-long (nearly three feet) bees’ nest that had taken root in the rafters of Jai’s house for over a year. Jai reportedly claimed that he’d done nothing to disturb the nest due to his belief that its presence was ‘auspicious’ and would bring him luck.

Impressed by the bees’ alleged ability to bestow good fortune, Jai’s ‘friend’ Samai suggested they climb up and inspect the nest to see if they could divine some lucky numbers that would allow them to win big in an upcoming lottery draw.

Finding the elusive fortune in India’s lottery may now come with a heavy price tag starting July 1.

The Indian government is now mulling putting lottery tickets in the 28 percent goods and services tax (GST) bracket, the highest tax category in the country.

Citing anonymous sources, The Economic Times of India reported that the proposed tax on the US$7.78 billion lottery business will be up from minimal or zero tax levied by about a dozen states that have lotteries.

Those state governments include Sikkim, Punjab, Goa, Maharashtra and Kerala. The Modi administration is looking to tax the ‘face value’ of the lottery, something Playwin President Rahul Tangri finds unfair.

Revenues of British bookmaker Ladbrokes Coral was in for a gallop until it hit a bump that forced it to fumble by the end of the first quarter.

Ladbrokes announced on Thursday that tough high street environment has dampen its first quarter net revenues, posting a modest five percent growth. Shares of Ladbrokes fell 4 percent after the update.

The FTSE 250-listed company saw a 7 percent drop in bets made over the counter in the first three months of the year. In the words of Ladbrokes Coral Group CEO, Jim Mullen: “Sporting results in the UK gave with one hand and took with the other.”

“UK Retail OTC stakes continue to exhibit the negative trends reported since the middle of 2016, driven by the challenging UK High Street environment and our own focus on the multi–channel opportunity,” Mullen said in a statement on Thursday.

While everyone was busy watching Florida legislators kill a new gambling law in the past few days, Miami Beach Commissioners sneakily banned casinos in their jurisdiction.

The Miami Herald reported that Beach officials quietly initiated a change in city zoning that would shut down any gambling applications.

The commissioners are said to be railroading the passage of two anti-casino ordinances. Six commissioners, who voiced their opposition to expand gaming both in Miami Beach and across Miami-Dade, moved swiftly to unanimously vote to send the twin ordinances to the citizen planning board.

The board will meet on May 11 to form a recommendation on the ordinances that would the change the city’s comprehensive plan and zoning laws to prohibit gaming. The commission would then meet at 2 p.m. the next day for the first of two votes on the changes.

The first legs of the Champions League Semi-Finals are over, and it’s looking increasingly likely that the two unbeaten sides left in the competition will meet in Cardiff in a repeat of the 1998 final.

The Spanish and Italians are destined to invade the Welsh Valleys come June after Juventus officials started making arrangements for their visit to Cardiff for the Champions League Final after a convincing 2-0 away win in Monaco.

It was an exciting clash with the free flowing French side versus the stoic and resolute Italian defence. Monaco came into this one averaging three goals a game and three points clear at the top of Ligue 1. Juventus arrived unbeaten in the Champions League and having kept eight clean sheets in their previous ten Champions League games, including five on the bounce along with six hours of football against Barcelona.

The hosts started the brighter with Manchester United prospect Kylian Mbappe twice denied by Gianluca Buffon. The Italian became only the second Italian player to appear in 100 Champions League games for the same club alongside Paolo Maldini (AC Milan).

State-run Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR) has given the go-signal for the construction of the US$300-million integrated gaming resort in the holiday-island of Cebu.

PAGCOR chief Andrea Domingo has confirmed that the state regulator has awarded a provisional casino license to Filipino holding firm Udenna Corp.

Udenna Development Corp. is led by Filipino businessman Dennis Uy, one of the top campaign contributors of President Rodrigo Duterte during the 2016 Presidential election campaign.

According to the data available in the Philippines’ Commission on Elections, Uy donated P30 million (US$ 600,783) to Duterte’s campaign kitty.

HongKong-listed casino operator Galaxy Entertainment Group Ltd. (GEG) has posted a 5 percent revenue growth in the first three months of the year on the back of a sustainable market recovery in Macau.

GEG announced in a regulatory filing on Thursday that its revenue grew to HKD 14.1 billion (US$1.81 billion) in the three months to March 31, higher than the HKD 13.4 billion (US $1.72 billion) revenue it posted in the same period last year. The revenue growth, however, declined by two percent when judged quarter-on-quarter.

The company’s reported adjusted earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA), on the other hand was up 31 percent to HKD3.2 billion (US$411.24 million) in January to March 31, 2017 period.

Total mass table games revenue was HKD5.8 billion (US$745.37 billion), up 15 percent year-on-year. Total VIP revenue declined 5 percent year-on-year to HKD6.8 billion (US$873.88 billion) as a modest volume increase was more than offset by not playing as lucky.

Staying abreast of the best digital payment solutions for customers has always been at the top of the list for online gambling operators.  You can have the best gambling site in the world, but if customers cannot get their deposits into the system, who cares how good your site is.

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The fourth annual Betting on Football Conference (BOFCON) kicked off today at London’s iconic Stamford Bridge, home to Chelsea Football Club. BOFCON has enjoyed exponential growth since its inception four years ago, a direct result of the hard work and dedication of SBC Events, the team behind the organization of the conference.

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Japan’s as-yet unbuilt casinos could place far greater emphasis on slot machines than casinos in other Asia-Pacific markets, according to a new market forecast.

The new white paper from Global Market Advisors (GMA) suggests that the eager international casino operators salivating over the chance to operate a Japanese integrated resort would do well to disregard many of the lessons learned from their casinos in Macau, Singapore, South Korea and Saipan.

The GMA study’s authors suggest that, while baccarat and other table games that are all the rage in other markets will undoubtedly be popular in Japan, “slot machines will have a far more prominent place” in Japan’s “machine-centric gaming culture.”

The authors base this view on the established appeal of pachinko and pachi-slot venues in Japan, and the belief that the number of Japanese electronic gaming machine manufacturers – Aruze, Konami, Sega Sammy, etc. – will produce a variety of compelling slots based on themes they know will appeal to Japanese gamblers.

Luke Schwartz shows Salomon Ponte how to play the bad guy after starring in a PokerNews video suggested that he and his nemesis Doug Polk get it on in Las Vegas in the summer.

Salomon Ponte, check this out.

 [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VoUvQVJjCl4?ecver=2]

The World Poker Tour is evolving nicely under the stewardship of Ourgame International, and Johnny McMahon, VP of World Poker Tour Studios breaks down why in this exclusive interview

The sub-conscious mind is a powerful thing, but sometimes it shoots an arrow a little wide of the bullseye.

Take mine, for example.

One day, I am lounging on the couch watching the World Poker Tour (WPT) on TV. The players look like Quentin Tarantino characters, beautiful women are dropping bricks of cash onto the felt, and I tell my sub-conscious that one day I want to be at that table.